The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Modern electronic devices are often equipped with antennas for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals. These signals are typically transmitted and received at frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum known as radio frequencies. Via these signals, electronic devices may communicate with each other.
Various protocols exist to facilitate such communications. For example, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is a set of protocols commonly used by modern electronic devices, often to wirelessly connect to networks of devices, such as wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) networks or the Internet, traditionally using signals transmitted over the 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) and 5 GHz radio bands. The arrangement of antenna (or antennas) on a device equipped to communicate wirelessly is usually carefully configured to permit transmission and/or reception of signals using the protocols and frequencies that the device is designed to communicate over. Different antenna configurations may produce different results depending on the frequencies and/or protocols involved.
Devices that can use Wi-Fi technology include personal computers, video-game consoles, smartphones, digital cameras, tablet computers, video set-top boxes and dongles, and digital audio players. Wi-Fi compatible devices typically connect to networks via a device known as a wireless access point. A wireless access point comprises various antennas for communicating with one or more client devices within an effective coverage area, which varies depending on factors such as the transmitting power of the wireless access point, the transmitting power of the client devices, the configuration of the antenna(s) on the wireless access point and/or the client devices, interference from other signals and obstacles, and so forth. A wireless access point may further be coupled to various networks to permit the one or more devices to access those networks. Wi-Fi coverage for a given network can be as small as a single room with walls that block radio waves, or as large as many square kilometers, as may be achieved by using higher transmission powers, overlapping multiple access points, better antenna designs, and so forth.